


Great friends, a gas tank (and a piece of cake)

by Silverdancer



Category: VIXX
Genre: Fluff, M/M, roadtrip au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-27
Updated: 2017-07-27
Packaged: 2018-12-07 20:46:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11631567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silverdancer/pseuds/Silverdancer
Summary: Hongbin learns about Hakyeon's birthday the first week of June.





	Great friends, a gas tank (and a piece of cake)

**Author's Note:**

> I am very stubborn and wanted to have VIXX roadtripping South Korea. This is just a small fraction of it.
> 
> Enjoy!

Hongbin learns about Hakyeon's birthday the first week of June.

It's a slow morning when it happens. Hongbin has been reading a book some guest had probably left behind for a lack of something else to do when Byulie arrives, placing a cup of coffee right in front of Hongbin, startling him.

"Interesting read?" she says, and without waiting for an answer, starts unloading the tray full of cups she's carrying, reading the names on them before placing them on the desk. Hongbin stares in awe at her ability for two seconds too long before replying.

"Not really, it's cliché and nauseating, but there wasn't anything but travel guides around," he says as he looks for his cup. She laughs softly, as if she, too, has had to suffer through this particular book. She's a light traveller and like them, she's staying in the inn in exchange of food and a bed to sleep on, and the entertaining material while on reception shift is not that good.

"The bed scenes are so overdone. And those names!" she says as she fakes a shudder. Hongbin nods, understanding way too well what she means with it. The memory doesn't last too much, because on the quest for his coffee there's something that catches his eye.

"Peppermint chocolate? Seriously?" Hongbin says, picking up the cup curiously. It's the middle of summer, there's no way someone could have asked for that Christmas-y. He looks at Byulie, a comment on the tip of his tongue, when he sees her looking at him strangely amused.

"What?" he asks, instead. He's not sure he likes the way she looks at him. She only shakes her head, her smile widening slightly, but before he can keep asking, the cup is snatched out of his hands.

"I thought I had heard the door open," Hakyeon says, taking off the lid for a second and breathing in the peppermint smell shortly, and _oh_ , Hongbin understands that look now. He can't help the smile that creeps on his face as he lays back on his seat and folds his arms over his chest.

"Peppermint in June, hyung? Really?" Hongbin says, and he really can't help the teasing tone on his voice. The reaction is instant, with Hakyeon clutching his coffee and squinting in Hongbin's direction.

"It's not my fault you can't enjoy nice things, Hongbin," Hakyeon answers, mock resentment in his tone. Byulie laughs, and Hongbin is surprised, and a little embarrassed, to notice that he had forgotten about her presence.

"I _can_ enjoy nice things," he manages to retort, a second too late, "I just don't think that... _thing_ can be called nice." He can see Hakyeon squinting at him just as he goes on, to Byulie this time, "I didn't even think they sold those after Christmas season."

Hakyeon glares at him for a couple of seconds, and Hongbin smiles triumphantly before focusing on Byulie. The smiles she's wearing scares Hongbin a little, but doesn't dare to comment on it.

"Oh, they do, if you ask nicely and the cute barista likes you," she says, her smile changing, almost daring them to ask about it. Hongbin starts to look again for his own order knowing that even if he doesn't really want to hear about it, Hakyeon is going to ask and he's going to have to hear it.

He finds his normal, _boring_ coffee and picks up the book again, trying to tune out their voices. He mostly succeeds, but gives up after two and a half pages, the writing too terrible to handle.

He tunes in just in time to hear them laughing about something Byulie just said, and stops himself from asking what's so funny.

"Ah, such good memories," Hakyeon says, still recovering from laughing. "When I was little, my sisters used to tease me so much when we went to the beach during Memorial day. I always got so excited for it, though, I can't really blame them now."

"Woah, such nice plans!" Byulie comments, a nostalgic tone on her voice. "At home we used to go all together to the movies. We had the coast relatively close, but it was too much of a hassle for our parents, I guess, to get us there."

Hakyeon nods, understanding, taking a sip of his drink. "I think the only reason why my parents went through that every year was because it was a way to give me an early birthday present."

"Your birthday?" Hongbin asks, his own cup on its way to his mouth, before he even notices he's speaking. They turn to look at him, and Hakyeon nods.

"When is it?" Byulie asks, eyeing Hongbin curiously for a second before turning her attention to Hakyeon.

"June 30th," he says with a soft smile on his face, clearly remembering nice memories. He's about to say something, Hongbin can tell already. He never makes it, though as they all hear someone coming down the stairs and turn around to look in that direction, seeing Taekwoon come down.

"Here he comes," Byulie says.

"I'm surprised it took him this long," Hakyeon stage whispers, making all of them laugh, and earning a light shove from Taekwoon when he walked past him.

 

♦

 

Travelling with strangers is a weird thing.

Hongbin is able to tell they are a little lost just by looking at Hakyeon's posture, rigid while walking, not taking his eyes off the map in his hands for a second. And by the looks Sanghyuk is sending his way he can tell he's not the only one that noticed, the little amused smile giving him away.

It's surprising how much he does know about people he knows so little of.

He doesn't know where they grew up, or what their parents' names are, or as he had recently had noticed, their birthdays. He doesn't know how their childhood were, or what kind of friends they had while growing up.

And yet.

He knows that Taekwoon didn't take his coffee this morning by the way he follows them from the back, beanie over his eyes helping him avoid sunlight. He knows that that's Wonshik's fault from the way he keeps himself in front of Hongbin, right by Jaehwan's side, but he keeps looking back, checking on him.

He's surprised to find Hakyeon by his side, not having noticed when he had moved so far behind. "Worried about something?"

Hongbin laughs, nervous, being caught up mid thinking. "Why do you ask?"

"Just making sure, you were looking all..." he starts, making a gesture around his face, as if trying to make up for the lack of words, before settling on, "constipated."

"Constipated?" repeats Hongbin, pretending to be offended. They have slowed down considerably, since now Hakyeon is back there with him and Sanghyuk is the one leading the party, but none of them are worried. He doesn't think Wonshik or Taekwoon have noticed, and he's pretty sure Jaehwan and Sanghyuk are too interested on eavesdropping to care too much.

"You know," Hakyeon says, clearly too concerned about Hongbin to play along with him, "that face you have when you're thinking way too hard about stuff."

And okay, he wasn't expecting that.

"I have a face?" He asks a beat too late, pretending he's not as shaken as he feels, playing it as a joke.

"Yeah," Hakyeon laughs, "sorry to be the one breaking it out to you."

"That's okay," Hongbin says like it's not a big deal. He's satisfied that he has managed to distract Hakyeon enough from his worrying. "You have a face too."

"Oh, do I, now? And what does my face say?" Hakyeon squints playfully at him at that, playing along.

Hongbin gets closer, conspiratorially, and whispers in Hakyeon's ear.

"That we're lost."

That leaves Hakyeon speechless. He trips a little, and Hongbin laughs, delighted to have made him react like that. He can hear Sanghyuk and Jaehwan laughing quietly, but he doesn't turn around, reaching out to grab Hakyeon's arm to make sure he doesn't really fall.

"Oh my god, does anyone else know?" is the first thing he says to Hongbin in a hushed whisper, after getting his balance back. Hongbin can't help but laugh harder.

"I think Sanghyuk does," Hongbin says, tilting his head in Sanghyuk's direction, who is watching them amused and waves when Hakyeon looks.

"Oh god," Hakyeon whispers, alarmed, "how come you didn't say anything?"

"Well, it's not the first time," Hongbin says like it's the most obvious thing in the world. Which it is to anyone else but Hakyeon, apparently.

"Oh my god," Hakyeon whispers as loudly as he can, "you knew?"

"That you're terrible with maps? We all know," Hongbin confirms with a nod. Not even a second later, they are all confirming what Hongbin just said, including Taekwoon, mumbling his agreement from behind them.

"And you never said anything?" Hakyeon cries, voice not a whisper anymore.

"Well, we always get there in the end, don't we?" Hongbin says, playful, but soft, getting close to him to hit him lightly on the side with his own arm, "We trust you."

It's the first time Hongbin has seen the particular expression on Hakyeon's face when Hongbin says that, a mix of gratefulness and something else Hongbin can't describe. It's gone in a second, but before Hongbin has time to miss it, it has been replaced by a familiar determined expression.

"Well then, Hyangiram, wait for us!" Hakyeon exclaims, and they all cheer after him.

 

♦

 

Surprisingly, the whole thing is not even his idea.

They are waiting for Hakyeon to come back with their dinner. One of the owners of the restaurant down the street, a nice old lady had taken in Hakyeon as if it was her own grandson, and while they stayed there he had taken it upon himself to visit the old lady as possible as much as he could.

The upside of that is that they got a lot of free food, which was always nice. The downside was that they _depended on Hakyeon for getting dinner_.

It's way past dinnertime, and they are all in the living room, watching whatever show there's on tv for nothing better to do when something occurs to Hongbin.

"We should play a game," he says to the room at large. He sees Sanghyuk perking up and Jaehwan and Wonshik looking at him interested. He also sees Taekwoon looking at him, but he's not sure if the _murder_ he sees in his eyes is directed at his idea or at Hakyeon, wherever he is, but he's close enough to the exit in the event that it is actually directed at him, and he's pretty sure the rest won't let Taekwoon kill him, no matter how bad the idea is.

"There are no games around here, though," Sanghyuk offers, "I've checked. Not even some cards."

Hongbin nods at that, he checked too when they first arrived, one night he couldn't sleep. It was uncommon, but they didn't have a lot of room to complain, given that they weren't actually paying for their stay. Not with money anyway.

"What about truth or dare?" he says, not daring to look at any of them in the eye while saying it. He knows how it sounds.

"My sister used to play those games when her friends came to sleep over," Wonshik says thoughtfully after a moment of silence, and Hongbin can hear Sanghyuk snort in reaction to that.

"Are we preteen girls now?" he says, and even if the words hurt a little, there's no heat in his words, meant only to provoke a reaction out of Wonshik.

"Don't be an asshole," Wonshik says. He's laughing, but he also throws a pillow at Sanghyuk for what he just said, and Hongbin can breathe a little better after that.

"I like the idea, it can be fun!" Jaehwan says, and he sounds earnest, but when Hongbin looks at him there's a mischievous glint in his eyes that Hongbin knows not to trust.

And so they start.

Questions go from "Did you have a pet while growing up?" to "What's the most embarrassing thing you have ever done?" and Hongbin is surprised when most of them choose truths even if there are plenty of embarrassing things to do in a house full of strangers. It's fun and honestly, it's entertaining to see how much they get into it.

Hongbin knew that the glint in Jaehwan's eyes meant trouble but he didn't know it would come this fast.

"Hongbin," Jaehwan starts after Hongbin picks truth, "why did you want to play this game?"

Suddenly, all of their eyes are fixed on him, studying his reaction, and this game seems the worst idea ever.

"I thought it could be fun," he says, after a couple of seconds, trying to sound convincing.

"Lie," a choir of voices say even before he has finished his sentence. Hongbin feels offended, because while it's not the main reason, it's not a lie either. They just don't need to know the real reason.

"That's right, you're lying," Sanghyuk butts in, his expression mirroring Jaehwan's. Like they know something he does not. It's unnerving. "What are you hiding?"

"I am not hiding anything!" Hongbin exclaims, wincing at the volume of his own voice.

"You're still lying," Taekwoon says, and Hongbin knows it's bad enough if _Taekwoon_ start to tease him.

"I am n-," he starts, but sees their curious looks, and decides to try another tactic. "How can you tell?"

"Your nose does this thing when you're about to lie," Wonshik says, making a gesture around his nose as he moves it a little, probably trying to imitate whatever thing his face does when he's not being honest and all of them nod, agreeing with him. All these years being praised by his pretty face and being told it's one of his biggest assets and his face is the one that ended up betraying him. Oh the irony.

He sighs, defeated, but relieved, the topic of his actual lie being forgotten by his nose thing.

At least that's how it is until Jaehwan starts to talk again.

"So," he starts, and when Hongbin looks at him he feels like Jaehwan knows every little thing inside of his head, but he's just waiting for Hongbin to confess them by himself. And if he kept looking at him like that, Hongbin is not sure he wouldn't comply. It's a little scary. "What is the real reason then?"

They are not going to leave it alone until they get the real reason, Hongbin is certain now. He knows he wouldn't stop until he got it, if he were any of them, so he sighs again, ready to open himself up.

"I found out the other day that Hakyeon's birthday is at the end of the month. I had no idea, and then I realized that while I know you all of you..." he pauses, not really knowing how to say it. He finds his eyes straying to the window, and the street outside, not really being able to look at any of them right now. "I don't know a lot about the small, unimportant stuff. And I was curious, maybe," he finishes hesitantly and when he does it it's like heavy weight has been lifted off him. It feels kind of good, if he ignores the flush creeping on his neck.

He's finally able to look at them, though, and he does for a little while, taking in their expressions, more thoughtful than he thought they would be.

They are silent for a while, the clock seemingly loud, making Hogbin uncomfortable. "Guys?" he says, ready to gather some poking device to check if they are okay, when Jaehwan speaks up.

"We could do something!" he exclaims, making all of them to look at him.

"Something?" Sanghyuk asks, a little suspicious, and Hongbin agrees.

"What kind of something?" Hongbin asks, wary.

"Like a birthday party!" Jaehwan explains, and oh. It _is_ a good idea. From his seat Hongbin can see all of them thinking the same, Taekwoon nodding silently while Wonshik and Sanghyuk start throwing ideas around.

Soon enough though they hear the main door being opened, and a familiar voice calling them to the kitchen to help set up the table, and the party, Hongbin's question and the whole game is forgotten.

 

♦

 

Planning a birthday party is difficult in normal conditions. While on the road and trying to keep it as a secret? It's absolute hell.

It's been almost a week ever since they had the idea, moved camp to a new town a few miles over, having heard from Byulie that this town also had a nice place for travellers to stay in. Hongbin stared out of the window, following all of Hakyeon's movements as he approached the entrance of the place. He had to admit that this was one of his favorite parts of the trip: watching Hakyeon charm all kinds of owners, see if they had space for them to stay for a few days and some work to do, since they didn't have that much money to spend on lodging.

It didn't matter who was owning the place, and Hongbin didn't really know what he said to them, but he always managed to get them something. And Hongbin had enjoyed watching him do it from the first moment he met him. There was something about him, the way he moved himself, the way that he seemed an entirely different person for these few moments without entirely losing himself, that drew Hongbin in. It wasn't exactly acting, he wasn't lying, but it felt as if it were.

And it was mesmerizing.

Out of nowhere there's a hand in front of his face, waving. "Earth to Hongbin," Sanghyuk says, kneeling and stretching on his seat to be able to reach Hongbin and catch his attention.

"What," Hongbin snaps. All of them are looking at him curiously from their seats, and Hongbin tries very hard to not blush.

"You're staring," Sanghyuk says as he gets back to his seat after making sure he has his full attention, "again."

"I wasn't _staring_ ," Hongbin denies. Wonshik stifles a laugh from the other side of the car at that and Hongbin squints at him.

"Whatever you say," says Sanghyuk, and Hongbin directs his glare at him briefly. He can kill them both later. "We were talking about the party. Do you have any idea?"

Hongbin thinks for a moment, forgetting Wonshik's murder for now, and remembers something Hakyeon had said before.

"Well," he starts, "he likes the beach."

"We could go there to celebrate the party!" Jaehwan exclaims, almost too loudly.

"It shouldn't be difficult to find-," Taekwoon chimes in, thoughtful, when Sanghyuk hits the seat and gets back to a normal position.

"He's coming!" he blurts, and as expected, they see him walking happily towards the car. He's so close that it's a miracle he doesn't notice their agitation when he makes Hongbin open his window.

"Get down," he announces proudly, "we have a place!"

 

Admittedly, technology makes things easier, as they are able to keep a separate chat room to talk about it even if they aren't together.

It's not a foolproof method, Hakyeon will sometimes get suspicious.

"You're hiding something from me," he says one morning to Hongbin, appearing behind him and grabbing his shoulders without any warning while he's putting up the clean sheets to dry on the motel's backyard.

It's a close thing, but Hongbin manages to not scream.

"You," he starts, not turning around, "almost gave me a heart attack."

"Don't try to change the topic," Hakyeon insists, shaking Hongbin a little and Hongbin tries to remember what he had just said, as well as what his life was before his heart jumped out of his body.

He comes up empty.

"I wasn't paying attention, I was being scared to death," he says turning around to look at Hakyeon, who sighs at him.

"I was saying," Hakyeon starts slowly, and Hongbin considers keep trying to make him repeat it, and see how many times he manages to just to see the faces Hakyeon would do, "that I know you're hiding something from me, and I want to know what is it."

"I'm not hiding anything," Hongbin starts with as much conviction as he can. He knows he failed, though, when Hakyeon's eyes go directly to his nose.

"Why are you lying? Is it that bad?" Hakyeon says, and he sounds hurt this time.

"It's fine, hyung," he says, and hopes his body doesn't betray him this time. "Really," he adds, for extra measure.

Hakyeon gets a little closer, still not looking up from his nose, his hands still on his shoulders even as he turned around, and for a brief second Hongbin thinks Hakyeon is going to kiss him.

Which is crazy.

He clears his throat in hopes of clearing his mind too. Hakyeon blinks, and as if out of a trance, he takes a step back and looks away.

They stay awkwardly like that for a couple of moments until Hakyeon talks softly, not meeting Hongbin's eyes.

"I thought you trusted me."

It takes a couple of seconds for Hongbin to remember what they were talking about, the memory of Hakyeon's breath on his lips still too clear for him to make sense of Hakyeon's words.

By the time he does, the hurt has set on Hakyeon's eyes, taking Hongbin's silence as a confirmation.

"I do, hyung. I trust you," he says, as earnestly as he can. That much is true, he just hopes that Hakyeon will believe him.

"But you can't tell me what you're hiding?" Hakyeon asks, and Hongbin suddenly feels awful about it, even if it is for him.

"Not yet," is the best he can give him, even if it might not feel like that to Hakyeon, not for now at least, if the sad eyes he puts up as he leaves are any indication.

 

It's easier when Hakyeon gets along with people in the place they are staying in, as he would sometimes go to spend time with them. Even if he's travelling with other five people, Hakyeon is still a social person and needs to connect with the new people they meet. In a way, they are lucky he meets Wongeun here, as they hit off pretty well, and they barely see him around from the moment he arrived.

He even takes him to their temple outings, the both of them walking a little ahead, giving enough distance so their conversation can't be heard.

Hongbin pretends it doesn't sting when they do and focuses on what Sanghyuk is saying.

"I think I have found a place where we could do this that wouldn't give us a lot of troubles, but I am mostly worrying about how we're going to get everything we need inside the car without him noticing," he says, and Taekwoon is about to speak when there is laughter in the background. Hongbin's attention snaps to where Hakyeon is clearly laughing at something Wongeun has said to him.

No one tries to get Hongbin back into the conversation.

 

♦

 

Predictably, Wongeun can’t stay for long and once he is no longer in the picture, Hakyeon's attention is back to them.

He knows something is up, and whenever he catches them talking in lower tones he tries to squint them into talking.

So of course, they try to annoy him on purpose sometimes. Just a little. And if it helps to divert his attention from actual planning, well, that's a plus.

One day, while Taekwoon, Wonshik and Jaehwan are figuring the logistics of how to fit everything on the car without Hakyeon noticing, Sanghyuk and Hongbin make sure Hakyeon stays as far away from the car as possible.

It's possible there are less violent methods to do this, but Hongbin has to admit that it's entertaining to see Hakyeon riled up.

"He's coming, he's coming," Sanghyuk whispers as he rushes from his spot near the door, crashing against Hongbin in an attempt to sit beside him on the bed. Hongbin wants to complain about the elbow on his stomach, but before he can Hakyeon is opening the door and coming in.

It takes him a moment to notice they are there, but they aren't being very subtle, holding a notebook between the two of them and, once Hakyeon notices them, hiding it behind, big smiles on their faces.

"Hyung!" Hongbin says, making Hakyeon focus on him as Sanghyuk hides the notebook behind them, "what are you doing here? Weren't you, uh, explaining something to Eunji?"

"I was," he says, as he tries to peek behind them to see what they are hiding, "but she needed some directions for her plans tomorrow, and I came to get the map."

"Oh," Sanghyuk said, getting up and going to Hakyeon's side of the shared room, searching around his things before Hakyeon had time to react, "I'll get it for you real fast!"

"Sometimes I can't believe you still have _and use_ an actual map," Hongbin teases, while very deliberately bringing Hakyeon's attention back to him, and moving his arm behind him when he has it. It works, because then Hakyeon is looking at him and he squints his eyes and smiles.

"Ha, ha," Hakyeon fake laughs just as Sanghyuk brings the map to him, "very funny." Hongbin's phone alerts him of a new message then, a small vibration right by his leg. He can't look at it while Hakyeon is looking at him, Hongbin realizes. Luckily Sanghyuk does too, posing even after Hakyeon has taken the map, as if waiting for Hakyeon to leave. Hakyeon _almost_ doesn't notice, caught up on Hongbin's teasing as he was, but Sanghyuk is patient and he knows that if he stays like that enough time, Hakyeon will notice.

It doesn't take him much, and when he does he eyes Sanghyuk warily. Sanghyuk smiles at him and waves, the poster picture of innocence, unnerving Hakyeon even more. Hongbin takes that moment to check the message, an all clear from Jaehwan. He doesn't bother answering to it, too risky with Hakyeon still in the room. He clears his throat, and when Sanghyuk looks at him Hongin nods. _Hakyeon can go_.

Hakyeon eyes go from one another, but before he can say anything, Sanghyuk is already speaking again, leaning towards Hakyeon conspiratorially.

"So hyung, wasn't Eunji noona waiting for you?"

"Dammit," he says, going to the door almost against his will, but stops before leaving, "I don't know what you're up to," Hakyeon mutters looking at them both, using the map in his hand to point at them, "but I will find out, and it better not be any trouble."

He leaves then, but not fast enough to miss Sanghyuk's muttered "Yes, mom," and Hongbin's low laughter.

 

♦

 

They can hear Hakyeon's footsteps stomping on the floor before he's opening the door as if it has personally offended him. "Are you done yet? We need to leave in twenty minutes," he barks, and he's gone without giving them time to answer.

They are packing up, preparing to leave to Jangsujamae, and by now Hakyeon has stopped talking to all of them, knowing all of them are keeping something from him. It's quite a show to see, Hakyeon trying to be mad at them, and not talk to them, while also being their only source of companionship, now that Eunji and her friends, too, have moved on with their trip.

Hongbin would be lying if he said he wasn't nervous: In the end, no matter how well they had prepared for it, it would still be Hakyeon the one driving them there. Jangsujamae was perfect as their destination: The road that got them there bordered a small beach that could be accessed by feet after some trees, so it wouldn't be seen until they were actually there. Of course, they only told Hakyeon about the couple of temples near it that would be of his interest once they did arrive there the next day.

Even if miffed with them, he seemed to accept the reason as good. In a way, it was good he was watching them too closely, otherwise he would have been harder to convince.

"You think he knows something, and he's pretending to do this to trick us into thinking he doesn't?" Sanghyuk asks as helps Jaehwan sit on his luggage to close it.

Hongbin considers it for half a second, but before he can actually say anything, Wonshik is laughing it off from the opposite side of the room.

 

♦

 

It’s been a while since they took the last exit, and Hongbin can’t stop looking at Sanghyuk’s phone, the screen showing their location. The closer they get to it, the more nervous he becomes. It feels like every second is getting slower than the one before and then Sanghyuk coughs.

The signal.

“Hey, Hakyeon, can we stop?” Wonshik says in his best pleading voice from his spot right behind Hakyeon, right where he can’t be seen from the mirror.

“What, why?" Hakyeon says, trying to turn around uselessly while driving to gauge how much of an emergency Wonshik’s petition is. "We’re almost there, hang on a little.”

Wonshik tries to squish his smile so his plea sounds more believable. Hongbin has to bite his smile too, he doesn’t want to give the surprise away. Instead, he focuses on the view: He can almost see the beach from here, the trees not being able to hide the sea, the sun setting beautifully beside them.

“It’s super important that we stop now," Wonshik says, before adding a, "please please please," for extra effect. They all can see Hakyeon breathing deeply, slightly annoyed, and they all know Wonshik has won even before Hakyeon answers.

“Okay, okay,” he says, defeated, as he tries to find the best spot on the side of the road to stop. Hongbin is thoroughly impressed, but saves his congratulations for later. Beside him he can sense Jaehwan tensing up too, preparing for the car to stop.

And they stop, half a mile later, right around the place they thought they would, and Wonshik opens the door on his side runs away, and Jaehwan and Sanghyuk, and Hongbin himself, all get out as soon as they can and follow him. The beach is not quite visible from the spot where they made Hakyeon stop, and the trees give enough shadow so Hakyeon can't see where they are going without going there himself. They run, knowing that Hakyeon will follow them, wondering why the hell they are running, where are they going. And Hakyeon screams when they run, and he follows them, that much Hongbin sees when he turns around briefly to check. Good.

Their feet hit the sand, finally, and they turn around, breathless and arms high.

“Surprise,” they scream when he appears, breathless and confused.

He stops on his tracks, not really knowing what to do, but before he can even ask Taekwoon appears from behind, carrying a couple of bags with all the things they managed to smuggle into the car for the party.

“Happy birthday,” he says.

They all wait for his reaction, the seconds stretching awkwardly the more time Hakyeon stays still on his place, looking dumbfounded at all of them.

"I think we have broken him," Hongbin says, and _that_ is what makes him react, because in the blink of an eye, he’s running to them, arms open. He catches Jaehwan off guard, but when he moves to hug the rest, they all run away, scattering themselves across the beach, laughing.

"How can we know you're not going to strangle us to death?" cries Sanghyuk while using Wonshik as shield.

“Ungrateful kids,” Hongbin hears him say, but when he looks around his smile is the most bright thing Hongbin has seen in a while.

 

♦

 

The sun is disappearing by the time they finish setting camp, the sky full of color, and Hongbin wishes he had his camera with him for a split second so he could capture the beauty of the moment. Then again, he thinks as he hears Hakyeon laugh in the background, if he had the camera he might not be looking at the sky.

"Come on, come on, it's time," he hears Jaehwan say, and Hongbin turns around in time to see Wonshik produce a cupcake from behind him, with a small candle on top, moving it carefully so the small light doesn't die out.

They sing _Happy birthday_ to him in the most obnoxious way they can and Hakyeon dances to it, clapping excitedly as if it's the best song he has ever heard.

"Make a wish," one of them hollers and Hakyeon takes the cupcake in his hand, thoughtful, looking at them, one by one, before blowing the candle, and looking at them again. Their eyes meet over the smoke and Hongbin fights to not look down, getting caught staring. For once, he thinks, he's allowed to.

 

♦

 

The sky is dark when Hongbin wakes up. The only sounds he can hear are the waves crashing against the sand, their laughs having died down long ago as tiredness caught up with them. He moves, getting to a more comfortable position, only to notice a jacket sheltering him from the cold.

He sits up, the confusion waking him up completely. He can't remember falling asleep, but he remembers playing cards, and laughing a lot, and lying on the sand to wait for his turn. He looks at the jacket on his lap and even though he can't see a lot under the moonlight, he's pretty sure it's the jacket Hakyeon was wearing earlier.

Traveling so much with a fixed group of people, it becomes a habit to count. Someone's missing and he doesn't have to look at their faces to know who that is.

 

♦

 

He doesn't have to look very far, turning around to see someone sitting near the sea.

Before he realizes it he's walking to sit right beside him. Hakyeon looks serene, and not at all surprised to see him right beside him.

"So this was it?"

Hakyeon's voice, even as he speaks softly, carries over the sound of the waves when he talks.

"Yeah," Hongbin answers as he gets closer. To hear him better, he says to himself, "this is what everything was for."

Hakyeon nods, still not looking at him. Hongbin thinks he's going to get reprimanded. For worrying him, for making him angry on purpose. He deserves all of it, he thinks, and anything else Hakyeon has to say to him after the last few days.

"Thank you," he says in the end. Hongbin turns around surprised, looking at him, and he's taken aback by Hakyeon's face, the soft shadows under the moonlight. Hakyeon must interpret his stillness as confusion, and he clarifies, "for the party. For the surprise."

Hongbin shakes his head softly at that and pretends like he's not blushing.

"It wasn't just me," he says, looking away. He's not trying to be modest, it's just how it was. He doesn't know why Hakyeon is doing this, why he's looking at him like this. 

"I know," Hakyeon says, swinging until his shoulder hits Hongbin softly, and stays there. "Still," he says, and he's still looking at him, Hongbin can feel it in the way his words tickle his cheek when he talks, "thank you."

The kiss is soft when it lands on his cheek, and short and something Hongbin must be dreaming, because it can't be. But he turns around and Hakyeon is still there, very real, and very, very close.

"Is that okay?" Hakyeon asks. There's a brief moment in which Hongbin hopes he doesn't thank the rest the same way. The thought doesn't last long, though, with Hakyeon looking at him like that.

Hongbin's only answer is to lean forward, and close the distance between them.


End file.
